Highschool Tournament

Friends and Colleagues,

The University of Georgia Debate Union is pleased to invite you to the Fifteenth Annual Bulldog Debates that will be held in Athens, Georgia, on March 1stthrough March 3rd, 2013. We wish to make this year’s Bulldog Debates an enjoyable and educational experience. Last year, our tournament drew 100 teams from three states. We are a TOC Qualifier in policy debate at the Semi-Final level.

There will be six (6) preliminary rounds of open and novice, policy debate, followed by an appropriate number of elimination rounds for each division. Last year both divisions cleared to the Octafinals. The national policy resolution will be used in both open and novice team debate (Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.) Entry fees will be $50.00 per team. We expect to have a very small pool of hired judges available. Many of our students will be traveling to college tournaments of their own during our tournament and their judging will be limited.

This year we are excited to offer Public Forum debate for the first time at the Bulldog Debates. There will be six (6) preliminary rounds of open Public Forum, followed by an appropriate number of elimination rounds. The schedule will follow that of policy debate, single-flighted with elimination rounds on Sunday. The National Forensic League’s February topic will be used in Public Forum debate. Entry Fees will be $50.00 per team. We appreciate schools that can fulfill their entire judging commitment for Public Forum, but will have avery limited amount of judging for hire.

We will have distinct Open and Novice policy debate divisions. Coaches will still be able to enter novice teams in the open division if they choose to do so. Such a decision will preclude a team from receiving awards designated for the novice division. The Novice policy division will NOT utilize the Georgia novice evidence packet. High School students will be allowed to judge the Novice Division. There will be a limited preference system used in assigning judges in the Open division.

We look forward to seeing old friends and welcoming new ones to our campus. Please call us if we can provide you with any additional information. We hope to adhere to the tentative schedule listed below. With the change in date, the size of the entry may result in an amendment of this schedule when we get closer to the tournament date.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Panetta, Ph.D. Will Mosley-Jensen

Director of Debate Tournament Director

706-542-4445 706.542.3238

706-542-3245 (FAX) http://www.debate.uga.edu

email: epanetta@uga.edu email: wjensen@uga.edu

Tournament Details

FEES AND REGISTRATION

Registration for the Bulldog Debate Tournament will be handled through our Joy of Tournaments website (http://www.joyoftournaments.com/ga/univofga). All entries and fees will be managed through the website as well. Final registration fees will be assessed as of Monday February 25, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.Schools that register, but do not show, will be billed. Check-in and fee payment will be held between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on March 1, 2013 in Phi Kappa Hall at the University of Georgia. If a team has not checked in by 3:00, either in person or by phone, on March 1, 2013 they will not be paired for Round 1.

CHANGES

Because alterations to teams’ original entries have the habit of occurring, we request that you record changes to entries on the Joy of Tournaments websitepromptly. The registration website may be accessed from the link above as well as from the UGA Debate Team website (http://www.debate.uga.edu). If the registration period has ended, please notify Will Mosley-Jensen of your changesas soon as possible. An email to wjensen@uga.edu is preferable, but Will may also be reached at 307-630-3867 if late changes are necessary. You may also notify us of any changes via fax at 706-542-3245. Please do not contact the tournament director unless the registration period on the Joy of Tournaments website has expired.

TEAM LIMITS

Presently, we are limiting entries from one school to six teams in varsity and four teams in novice. If it is logistically possible, we will to remove this cap. In the past, we have been able to accommodate teams above the cap. Please add your teams to the wait list on the registration website, and we will inform you when we make final decisions about entry limits. If there is room for additional teams, schools on the waiting list will be notified after 4:00 p.m. on February 25, 2013. We define a debate team as two individuals debating together. Individuals who must debate alone because of last-minute changes will not be eligible to qualify for elimination rounds.

PREFERENCES

We will continue the practice of using a preference system for the Open Policy division this year. The preference system will be administered through Joy of Tournaments and requires that judging commitments be firmly established as of the registration deadline of February 25, 2013 at 4:00 pm.

AWARDS

Permanent trophies will be presented to all teams reaching the elimination rounds. Speaker awards will be given on the basis of the number of entries.

JUDGES

Each school is responsible for providing three rounds of judging for every two debaters in the tournament, or six rounds for every four debaters entered. The University of Georgia has a limited number of hired judges available at a fee of $20.00 per round for team debate. Schools needing to hire judges are encouraged to register early. All judging fees will be assessed as of February 25, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. Schools needing to hire judges after February 25th will be placed on a waiting list. When we exhaust the available supply of UGA judges we will attempt to match schools with interested judges. Schools will be expected to pay these contracted judges directly.

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS QUALIFIER

Based upon last year’s tournament, the 2013 Bulldog Debates will be a TOC Qualifier. Teams in the Open semi-final rounds will receive a leg for the TOC to be held at the University of Kentucky in May of 2013. Qualifying teams will need to report their entry before leaving Athens. We must have that information to the TOC by March 6th.

HOUSING

The tournament hotel is: Holiday Inn Express

513 W. Broad Street

Athens, GA 30601

706-546-8122

The group code for the block rate is HDT.

Here is a list of other area hotels listed in the order of proximity to campus. We have not made any arrangements with these hotels.

Athens is 66 miles east of Atlanta. From the South and West take Highway 316 from Interstate 85 North from Atlanta. Highway 316 will become Epps Bridge Road at Athens Loop Route 10. Continue going straight on what is now Epps Bridge Road which will become Atlanta Highway/Broad Street as you come off the Epps Bridge ramp. At the edge of downtown Athens take a right onto South Lumpkin Street. The Journalism building is located at the corner of Baldwin Street and Sanford Drive.

Tentative Schedule

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

BULLDOG DEBATES

March 1-3, 2013

Friday, March 1, 2013

Registration

Phi Kappa Hall

Opening Assembly/Pairings

Round I

Round II

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

4:30 p.m.

5:00 – 6:45 p.m.

7:00 – 8:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Round III

Round IV

Lunch (Provided by UGA)

Round V

Round VI

8:00 - 9:45 a.m.

10:00 - 12:00 p.m.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Elimination Rounds

8:00am – 5:00 pm

Richard B. Russell Debate Scholarships at the University of Georgia

The Richard B. Russell Foundation was established in 1970 with the purpose of insuring that the contribution of this great Georgian lives forever. Senator Richard B. Russell was an avid believer in the value of debate. He served 50 continuous years in public office including Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, Governor of Georgia and United States Senator for the last 38 years of his life. He was known as a skilled debater who was always prepared for arguments with his adversaries.

The Georgia Debate Union annually awards a $2,500 scholarship to one successful Georgia high school debater. Recipients who actively participate in the Georgia Debate Union and maintain a 3.0 grade point average will be eligible for award renewal.

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